Chapter 9: Chance Encounter. “Don’t Like Sichuan Peppercorns”—Is This Your Girlfriend’s Account?
“If he’s not playing matches, he should still be training with ZAP’s second team, right?”
Manager Li nodded. “wall has a very good reputation and popularity in the circle. Actually, when he was first benched, he also had a chance to transfer, but ZAP wouldn’t let him go, fearing he would threaten ZAP’s championship after transferring… They left him out for half a year before agreeing to let him transfer.”
Zuo Chi looked at wall’s past results. He had won two championships, and his worst result was top four.
If he had been listed a year ago, he would definitely have been highly sought after.
“wall was also held back by the team.” Manager Li sighed. “Now, for a veteran who hasn’t been on stage for a year, many teams don’t want to buy them.”
Not only had his form declined after a year without matches, but no one knew how much longer he could play after being bought. A team’s money didn’t fall from the sky.
Currently, there weren’t many substitute supports in the teams. Zuo Chi quickly finished reading the materials in his hand.
He removed those with high prices.
Then he removed those lacking stage experience.
The room for choice was small; wall was already a very good option.
“We can ask wall if he’s interested in a tryout at VEX.”
“Invite wall for a tryout?” Manager Li hesitated. “He hasn’t played for a year; will he be able to keep up with the game version…”
“For a veteran who hasn’t had a chance to play for a year but still has the heart to transfer and play matches, I believe his training with ZAP’s second team this past year hasn’t been neglected. Furthermore, there are still a few months before the Spring Split starts, which is enough time for the player to adjust.”
Manager Li nodded. “Okay, then I’ll contact him for a tryout.”
VEX training room.
From a distance, Zuo Chi heard a series of monkey-like shrieks coming from inside.
“Solo me? How dare you! Where do you get the confidence—Holy sh*t, two people ganking me! I was wrong, I was wrong! Don’t hit me, don’t hit me—”
“Think two people can dive me under the tower! Counter-kill! Are you mad? Are you mad?! F*ck, why is the enemy midlaner here too? Ning-god, help!!!”
“Ning-god, beat him up! Avenge me! He has no ult and no flash! Double kill! Awesome—”
Zuo Chi opened the door and went in. The two players were wearing headphones and didn’t notice him.
He walked silently behind the two.
Ning Luzhao’s rank was stable in the national top ten. Although Fugui often played on the Korean server, his rank in the domestic region wasn’t low either.
In such high-elo matches, it wasn’t easy to gain a massive advantage.
He watched the two’s computer screens while making mental notes.
Ning Luzhao’s timing for shutting down the Carry was very well-handled, but his farm speed wasn’t fast enough. To put it simply, it was the common problem of professional players in this world—poor macro management.
Fugui had more minor issues, such as getting hot-headed easily, liking to 1vX to show off mechanics, being greedy for minion waves…
The downsides of such minor issues weren’t obvious in ranked matches, but on the professional stage, a single mistake could cost the entire game.
At fifteen minutes, the dragon pit refreshed, and both sides postured in the river.
Fugui used an Ult-Flash to catch three enemies, and the several low-HP enemies fled in panic.
Originally, they could have secured the dragon steadily, but Fugui chased after them alone.
“Ning-god, the enemies are all low! Come and chase!” Fugui scratched his head as he looked at the grey screen. “Pity… they ran too fast. Couldn’t catch them.”
“It’s fine, I took the dragon.”
“Alright, alright, alright. Teamfight again in the next wave!”
Five minutes later.
“I caught the enemies! Charge, charge, charge—”
Charge my foot.
Zuo Chi pulled off Fugui’s headphones. “Charge what? The enemy has a long-range poke lineup, plus the support has a group slow skill. Your teammates’ heroes don’t have many displacements. Even if you catch them, they can’t follow up.”
“You gained an advantage in the laning phase, leading in gold, and your lineup has healing sustain. Directly start the dragon to force the enemies to come and fight. If they don’t come, take the dragon and push the high ground.”
Fugui thought for a few seconds and quickly realized. “Got it, Coach! I’ll just hold the position. If the enemies want to steal the dragon, they’ll have to push forward for vision. I’ll find an opportunity to use Flash and catch the Carry then.”
“Smart.”
“Hehehe…”
In this round, Zuo Chi stood by and shot-called, while Ning Luzhao turned on his microphone.
The randoms they queued with likely thought the Jungler-god who was carrying was the one shot-calling, so they were very obedient. In less than twenty minutes, they successfully destroyed the crystal.
“Victory!”
The settlement interface appeared on the screen.
Ning Luzhao didn’t start the next round but clicked on the game recording and began to watch the replay of this round.
Fugui also leaned over. “Coach, I feel this round… was a bit different from the matches I played in the camp and normal ranked.”
The gold was farmed faster.
It wasn’t that one position farmed faster, but the gold of the entire team increased very quickly.
The rhythm was very fluid. The enemies were exhausted handling the minion waves, and they easily secured more jungle resources.
When pushing the high ground, the minion waves in all three lanes were perfectly timed.
Ning Luzhao repeatedly dragged the progress bar of the game replay, looking at the rising gold values on the panel.
This round wasn’t a “smurf stomping” match. On the contrary, the enemy had one professional player and two well-known technical streamers; it hadn’t been that easy to win.
Actually, there were many teams exploring macro management now, but compared to the mature macro systems of professional matches in Zuo Chi’s previous life, the teams here were almost all at the stage of “crossing the river by feeling the stones.”
Zuo Chi: “You two can ponder over this round first. Once the team’s starters are all here, I’ll explain it to you in detail—I plan to try out a support in a couple of days.”
Ning Luzhao gave an “mm.” “A player from which team?”
“wall, from ZAP’s second team.”
“wall from ZAP’s second team?” Fugui repeated, pointing to a game friend request he had just received.
“I remember this support’s ID. It seems to be wall’s smurf?”
After adding the friend, wall quickly sent a message.
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: Hello.]
[million: Greetings, Zhuo-god! Um, Zhuo-god, we shouldn’t have known each other before?]
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: I just added Land, but he didn’t accept. Seeing you’re duoing with him, you should be a new VEX player, so I came to add you.]
Zuo Chi was amused. Ning Luzhao had been busy watching the game recording just now and likely didn’t see wall’s friend request.
Fugui quickly explained.
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: So, the one who turned on the mic and shot-called in the last round was your team’s new coach?]
[million: Correct! (Proudly-patting-chest.jpg)]
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: I knew it… I was wondering why Land’s voice sounded like that. I thought he was using a voice changer.]
Ning Luzhao was helpless, and Fugui laughed wildly.
[million: It’s fate to be matched together, Zhuo-god.]
[million: Zhuo-god, our coach just said he’s going to contact you for a tryout at VEX. How about it? Coming? Our coach is handsome, kind, and skilled. You won’t regret coming for a tryout!]
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: For real?]
[million: Of course! Our coach is a very good person.]
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: I meant the tryout.]
Fearing Fugui would say more and make wall think he had encountered a game scam, Zuo Chi immediately took control of the keyboard.
[million: wall, hello, I am VEX’s head coach, Zuo Chi. Our team is preparing to rebuild for the new season, and the starting support position is currently vacant. I sincerely invite you to come to our team for a tryout.]
He thought for a bit and added a line.
[million: We’ll cover the flight.]
The other side was silent for a while, about ten minutes.
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: Add on WeChat? I’ll buy tomorrow’s ticket.]
[million: OK.]
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: Also, is VEX interested in buying a marksman? Our second-team marksman, beyond, just came to ask me about transferring, so I replied late.]
[Bare-Handed Table Splitter: beyond is a very talented kid. He just can’t get a starting position at ZAP, and he’ll be listed in this transfer window.]
Invited a support for a tryout, and got a marksman as a bonus.
As a support who had won a championship and partnered with beyond for a year, since wall recommended him, it meant this marksman should be a “treasure” rookie.
And since he was a rookie from the second team who hadn’t been on stage for matches, he wouldn’t be too expensive.
Even after making psychological preparations, Zuo Chi was still pleasantly surprised when he saw beyond’s attribute entries.
[Name: Zhou Lingyun. ID: beyond. Position: Marksman.]
[Golden Entry: Danger Perception (It seems like he has an alarm installed on his body; he can often sense the danger of being shut down and use Flash and displacement in time to escape).]
[Grey Entry: Fragile Hands (Literal meaning. His hands were previously injured, making him more susceptible to injuries than other players. Suggest the coach takes extra care).]
Zuo Chi pondered whether he should suggest to Manager Li to add a team doctor specifically to take care of beyond’s hands.
After wall and beyond agreed to come for the tryout, they bought tickets for the next day and told them they would arrive in Nancheng at 2 PM the following afternoon.
Zuo Chi arranged the airport meeting time with them and checked his phone.
It was past one in the morning.
Sleepy.
Ning Luzhao and Fugui were still playing ranked.
Young people really have vitality.
Zuo Chi took a sip of the wolfberry tea in his thermos and gave a slight yawn. “Go rest after this round. We have a tryout for the marksman and support tomorrow.”
“Mm.”
“Okay!”
Ning Luzhao turned his face, glancing at the coach who was slowly walking toward the stairs, then at the grey “Offline” avatar of “Don’t Like Sichuan Peppercorns” in his game list.
“Ning-god, Ning-god? What are you looking at… ‘Don’t Like Sichuan Peppercorns’—is this your girlfriend’s account?”
“No. A support I met in a smurf ranked game before. They played well, and I was going to tell the coach we could contact them for a tryout.” Ning Luzhao closed the account homepage of “Don’t Like Sichuan Peppercorns.” “But they haven’t been online for two days… never mind.”
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